Movie Prop Collecting with Jason DeBord's Original Prop Blog Film & TV Prop, Costume, Hollywood Memorablia Pop Culture Resource

Archives for August 2015

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Bill Mastro of Mastro Auctions Sentenced to 20 Months in Prison for Shill Bidding & Fraud

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The New York Daily News continues to take the lead in the mainstream media on the story about “disgraced sports memorabilia pioneer” Bill Mastro, Founder and CEO of Mastro Auctions, which shut down in 2009 during the FBI investigation.  In the ongoing saga, he plead guilty to shill bidding and mail fraud and admitted to trimming/altering a high value trading card to increase it’s value. U.S. District Judge Ronald A. Guzman sentenced Mastro to 20 months in prison; NY Daily News reports the judge was “troubled by the fact that Mastro had destroyed bidding records after learning the FBI had launched an investigation into fraud…“. [Read more…]

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$1 Million Dollar Reward for Dorothy’s Stolen Ruby Slippers from Wizard of Oz

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It was 10 years ago this month that one of the surviving pairs of ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz were stolen from The Judy Garland Museum.  The mainstream media has reported that an anonymous benefactor has offered up a $1 million dollar reward for information leading to the recovery of maybe the most iconic piece of Hollywood memorabilia ever created, though Newsweek questions whether this person or persons exist after the cancellation of an interview. [Read more…]

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20th Century Props Reopens in Los Angeles, 5 Years After Shutting Down

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As reported at the time, long time prop rental business 20th Century Props shut down and liquidated its inventory back in 2009 and 2010.  Well, here we are in 2015 and the Los Angeles Times and others have reported that Harvey Schwartz has rebounded along with the film industry this year, and has relaunched his business. [Read more…]

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Prop Store Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction September 23rd, Catalog Coming Next Week, Photo Preview

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Prop Store’s second annual Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction will be held at the Odeon BFI IMAX in Waterloo, London on September 23rd.  The live event will feature more than 450 lots of props, costumes and other film and television memorabilia.  The catalog is due out on September 26th, and there will be a two week long exhibition leading up to the auction. [Read more…]